Posted on 03/13/2003 4:16:28 PM PST by GailA
Model school cheated, officials say Test scandal ousts Caldwell principal
By Aimee Edmondson edmondson@gomemphis.com March 13, 2003
Caldwell Elementary was a shining star in the troubled Memphis city school system, working academic wonders in a tough environment.
But school officials say much of Caldwell's success was a sham, and widely lauded principal Lirah Sabir has retired amid allegations she cheated to boost test scores.
Sabir excluded the weakest students on test days, answer sheets were doctored and monitors were banned from the classroom, school officials say.
Educators say the case illustrates the dark side of the nation's intense focus on school test scores.
Among the allegations:
Sabir exempted all special education students from taking the TCAP (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program), a violation of federal law.
Fewer than 85 percent of Caldwell's 700-plus students were tested.
Nearly a quarter of the boys in the K-5 North Memphis school failed to take the entire battery of tests - which means their scores didn't count.
School officials also point to suspiciously high scores in teacher Ronald Price's third-grade class, where almost all kids scored above the 90th percentile. Many were at the 99th percentile.
School system investigators reported unbelievable jumps in individual scores, such as one child's leap from the 13th percentile in reading to the 86th percentile - in one year. State testing officials noted a large number of erasures from wrong to right answers in Price's class.
School leaders also said Sabir locked classroom doors and refused to let inspectors into the school while kids were testing last spring.
Sabir didn't return telephone calls Tuesday or Wednesday.
In personnel documents, Sabir defended her decision not to have special education students tested, saying the rules were unclear.
Caldwell's absentee rate typically was high - up to 15 percent - and could've been worse because of rain and fog during test week, she said.
As the pressure mounts for schools to log big test score gains, Caldwell has been held up as a model, making steady jumps over the past five years.
Caldwell is one of two Memphis schools that switched to a year-round school calendar to boost lagging test scores.
It was an analysis of the year-round calendar's effectiveness that led to the cheating allegations, officials said.
Sabir is also under fire for what school officials call financial irregularities.
The laundry list of those allegations included paying some employees up to $4,750 for hours they didn't work.
School leaders also question unusually high overtime payments and excessive mileage reimbursements.
Supt. Johnnie B. Watson said Wednesday evening that student test scores have become almost too important.
"Educators are placed in a position now, where, unfortunately, you gear everything toward passing a test," he said.
School system officials say they believe the Caldwell case is isolated. They don't intend to investigate other schools' test-taking procedures, spokesman Janice Crawford said.
Associate Supt. Bob Archer referred Sabir to the personnel office for disciplinary action and possible firing Feb. 19.
"It is my opinion that both situations independently portray a willful disregard for applicable law, policy and practice," Archer wrote.
Sabir retired Feb. 28, citing long-term illness, and will be paid until May 23. Her annual salary is $78,936.
Attempts to reach Price, the teacher, were unsuccessful.
Testing experts say similar cheating accusations have gone up nationwide in this era of high-stakes testing.
New federal laws require schools to show improvement each year and schools are held accountable for students' test scores.
For years, Tennessee has demanded principals and teachers deliver rising scores. Schools that don't face state probation and, starting next year, takeover.
Some observers say they aren't surprised administrators and teachers are driven to cook their numbers.
"The pressure being put on schools is unreasonable," said Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest, a national organization critical of standardized testing.
"And that pressure is more dangerous and more damaging than the still pretty isolated cases of cheating."
Steve Ross, of the University of Memphis, has studied testing in local public schools as well as hundreds of districts across the country.
He sees suspicious data from time to time, but cheating is hard to prove.
Though he didn't work on the recent Caldwell analysis, he has studied Memphis data over the years.
"This is depressing because the results Lirah got showed that year-round schools were working," he said. "It was a real success story."
- Aimee Edmondson: 529-2773
Lirah --- rhymes with Liar.
Appears to be payoffs for allowing cheating.
Memphis ain't the Grand Dame of the south anymore.
"Educators are placed in a position now, where, unfortunately, you gear everything toward passing a test," he said.
Ummm. Yeah, that's it. Cheating educators is evidence that the test was unfair..... not that the educators failed to educate.
And what is this cr@p I keep hearing about "standardized test force teachers to 'teach to the test'"?
Let's see..... hmmmm. Says here that the test will include several questions with addition of simple fractions.... Now I'm "forced" to teach addition of simple fractions. This is going to seriously cut into the gender sexuality curriculum! I don't even see "gender identity" on the test!
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